10 Super Bowl ads to watch for during Sunday's game

Friday

Feb 1, 2013 at 12:01 AMFeb 1, 2013 at 12:07 AM

Celebrities, humor, babies and cute animals will once again rule the commercial breaks on Sunday during Super Bowl XLVII, advertising's biggest showcase, when more than 111 million people are expected to tune in. Marketers have spent millions and pulled out all the stops to 'wow' viewers this year.

You don't have to be a football player to be a part of the action on Super Bowl Sunday.

Coca-Cola is asking people to vote for an online match between three groups competing in a desert for a Coke on Game Day. Pepsi and Toyota are using viewers' photos in their ads. Audi let people choose the end of its Super Bowl ad, while Lincoln based its spot on more 6,000 tweets from fans about their road trips.

These are just some ways advertisers have found to get viewers involved in the excitement on Game Day by luring them online. And they're going well beyond encouraging fans to tweet or "like" their ads on websites like Twitter Facebook.

They're trying to get the most of their Super Bowl ads, which cost nearly $4 million for a 30-second spot, by drawing people online. Companies that advertise during the Super Bowl get a 20 percent increase in Web traffic on the day of the game, according to the analytics arm of software maker Adobe. They also have a higher online audience than average in the week after.

Here are 10 spots they hope will make you skip the bathroom break or beer run for during the big game:

1. Samsung Mobile's 2-minute ad in the fourth quarter called "The Big Pitch" stars "Knocked Up" actors Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen and was directed by Jon Favreau ("Iron Man"). The company has not released details about the ad's plot other than to say that it shows Rogen and Rudd on a "quest to become the next big thing." A teaser ad shows Rogen and Rudd trying to talk about a Super Bowl ad without saying the words "Super Bowl." Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzfAdmAtYIY

2. Best Buy's 30-second ad in the first quarter stars Amy Poehler, star of NBC's "Parks and Rec," asking a Best Buy employee "lots of questions." Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcmW8HCuLo8

3. Kraft enlists Tracy Morgan from NBC's "30 Rock" to introduce its new Mio Fit water enhancing drops in a 30-second ad during the third quarter. Online: http://www.youtube.com/user/makeitmio?feature=watch

4. Hyundai Motor Group's Kia invents a fanciful way that babies are made, blasting in from a baby planet in its "Space babies" ad for the 2014 Sorento crossover. Online: http://www.youtube.com/user/KiaMotorsAmerica?feature=watch

5. First-time advertiser Paramount Farms is touting its Wonderful Pistachios brand of nut in a 30-second ad in the third quarter in its "Get Crackin'" campaign that stars Korean pop sensation Psy. Online: http://getcrackin.com/

6. First-time advertiser Axe's 30-second ad in the third quarter of the game shows a woman in the ocean getting rescued by a sexy lifeguard, but going for an astronaut instead. It promotes Axe's new cologne "Apollo" and its contest to send someone on the first suborbital space tour in 2014. Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGoU3VH7He4

7. Audi's 60-second ad in the first quarter, with an ending voted on by viewers, shows a boy gaining confidence from driving his father's Audi to the prom, kissing the prom queen and getting decked by the prom king. Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANhmS6QLd5Q

8. PepsiCo's Frito-Lay's Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" ads are back for the seventh straight year. Two 30-second commercials made by consumers will make it on the air. Fans voted for one winner and Doritos chose the other. Online: https://apps.facebook.com/crashthesuperbowl/

9. Ford Motor Co. enlisted late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon to choose road trip stories submitted by Twitter with the hashtag (hash)steerthescript to base its Super Bowl commercial for Lincoln. The story line for the 30-second ad was developed from 6,117 Tweets about road trips and features rapper Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons, Wil Wheaton, who acted in the iconic science-fiction series "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Online: www.steerthescript.com

10. The Milk Processor Education Program, known as MilkPep and popular for its "Got Milk?" print ads, is featuring actor and professional wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in a 30-second ad in the second quarter that is directed by Peter Berg ("Friday Night Lights.") Online: https://www.facebook.com/MilkMustache